


Memories (Locked away, throw away the Key)

by outofgotham (newmoonmayhem)



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Incest, Matricide, Mind Control, Patricide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 06:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15213689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newmoonmayhem/pseuds/outofgotham
Summary: Jervis claims he and Alice lost their parents when they were young. Like so many things, that is a vast oversimplification of a matter that involved Jervis's bloody hands.





	Memories (Locked away, throw away the Key)

Alice had just had her seventh birthday. Jervis was fourteen. There was a good age gap between the siblings, but they'd always been close. 

Everything seemed so innocent, looking back on it.

Jervis's powers, to such a small child, seemed like a fine party trick. He could take her to the store and get  _any_ toy she wanted, and they didn't even have to ask mommy and daddy for money!

Until their parents died, Jervis had been the best big brother in the world. 

Until their parents died.

Until...

It still hurt to think about it. No matter how many shock therapy sessions Hugo Strange put her through, no matter how many experiments or tests, some mental blocks Jervis had put on her seemed to remain. They'd been cracking, though, coming through. Memories he'd tried to make her forget seeping back in through the breaks. She never thought she'd be grateful for Strange's torture.

But it let her remember.

It let her break free of his control even further.

It was a warm summer day, free from school. Alice had been playing outside, but sneaked over close to a window when she heard voices raising. She peaked in, just for a moment. It seemed that her parents were yelling at him for something. But then she heard her name mentioned in the yelling, and she wondered if perhaps she was going to get in trouble too. So she hurried away from the window. 

She finally came inside in the evening, and stepped up to her room. A moment after, Jervis stepped inside, closed the door, and crouched down to her level.

"Alice, pack your suitcase with all your favorite things. We're going to go on a vacation, okay?"

"Vacation?" Her eyes sparkled, having almost forgotten the yelling from earlier. She'd always wanted to go on a vacation, but their parents kept telling her they didn't have the money.

"Yes, a vacation. But mommy and daddy can't go."

Alice's smile fell. "Why not?"

"They have lots of business to attend to, you see. Lots of paperwork and numbers, busy as bees."

Alice giggled. She could vaguely remember this time, when she found his rhymes funny and thought he was the best sibling, never understanding why her friends at school always complained about theirs. A time when Jervis seemed just as much a child as her, a best friend and an overly indulgent parent rolled into one.

Alice, however, got done packing too soon. She came downstairs, her big brother with his hands behind his back, a proud smirk on his face, as their parents stabbed themselves to death.

"Jervis?" 

He whipped around, quickly, but his expression wasn't mad. More concerned, more sad.

"Oh, poor Alice. You weren't supposed to see this." He scooped her up and pulled his watch back out. "Don't worry, my dear. At least you won't have to remember it."

And when the memories came back, Alice sat in her cell, crying and crying. But she wouldn't lock them back up. She would remember every little thing Jervis took from her, ever memory and every emotion, until she couldn't hold anymore, until she felt like the clock had turned back and his damage was undone (though she knew it wouldn't really ever be undone). 

And if he came back, though she'd hope she'd never have to see him again, and she'd run to the ends of the earth if she had to-

If he ever came back, she would kill him. For herself and for everyone else. For the innocent people who didn't know how toxic he was, like an gas that slowly settled in your lungs, for her parents, for herself. 

She would kill him before he had the chance to open that mouth one more time.


End file.
